Mascots Netflix Movie Review

Mascots (2016)

Mascots- Once we get to multiple mascots this takes off.

Watch Mascots on Netflix
Written by: Christopher Guest, Jim Piddock
Directed by: Christopher Guest
Starring: Zach Woods, Wayne Wilderson, Sarah Baker, Parker Posey, Chris O'Dowd, Jane Lynch, Fred Willard
Rated: --/TV-MA

Plot
In this Netflix original mockumentary by Christopher Guest (This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, various sports mascots participate in a championship to win the coveted golden fluffy.

Verdict
This is very much a Christopher Guest film, following in the footsteps of Best in Show. This is scattered at first before everything comes together in the last third. If the entire movie was that good, I'd recommend it, but you have to sit through a lot to get to the 'good' part.
It's an understated comedy that's main joke is the absurdity of the situation, not always the lines.
It depends.

Review
This is an understated mockumentary style film, with the characters directly addressing the camera at times. Since the actors don't over deliver lines, you have to really pay attention. The comedy derives from how absurd everything is. We get a window into a fake world. We watch a plumber mascot and a mascot coach tweaking a routine. It's absolutely absurd. As the coach says, "Plumbers are going to be your toughest critics in the audience."

The beginning is too much setup and not enough action. It really hurts the movie. While it's introducing the characters it could have been shorter overall, and instead work some of the story development in to the competition. The movie really picks up once the competition starts, but you have to watch most of the film to get to that point and it's much too short. Less background up front and more of the competition would have helped.

Once the competition starts this picks up. In the first routine we see the plumber mascot. While I was surprised with his routine, I shouldn't have been. The hedgehog does an amazing job with an impressive ladder trick.

This is someone taking a silly idea and making a movie about it. This is silly, but doesn't reach good enough until the end. This is close to a recommendation, but the first hour brings it down.